that this spirit could still exist given my best attempt at being intellectually sceptical.
Exactly. I had/have a similar experience of the fervor in the spine that you had. This above
point is a good one.
Is it all psychological? That is one possibility, but personally, the "personal evidence" suggests otherwise.
Ofcourse, if we are a universal expression, then if we mean somethin to ourselves, then objectively we mean something universally;
The ant truism: if we're as important as ants, then when I'm trodden on I won't complain much afterwards.